Yet, quite a few local teams made noise, both surprisingly and expectedly, led by the Burbank boys and Crescenta Valley girls, who finished second in their respective races, while the Crescenta Valley and Burroughs boys and the Burbank and Hoover girls all earned spots to the CIF Southern Section divisional preliminaries at Mt. San Antonio College on Nov. 16.

Maybe no team made a bigger splash than did the Division I fifth-ranked Bulldog boys, who appear to be surging and demonstrated their prowess by knocking off seventh-ranked Crescenta Valley for the first time this season, 47-63, for second place in league.

“With CV and Arcadia, we just let them go and waited to make our move,” said Bulldogs senior Elliot Choe, who finished fifth in 14 minutes, 44.09 seconds, which trumped a previous course best of 15:08.

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Choe and senior Arsen Mkrtchyan (sixth, 14:49.12) stuck to their plan, even when their chances of advancing to the Division I prelims looked imperiled as the duo were 12th and 13th, respectively, at the one-mile mark.

Yet, a mile later, the Burbank duo moved into eighth and ninth before eventually finishing fifth and sixth.

“This was a slow build to state and we’re still getting there,” said Mkrtchyan, who easily eclipsed his previous course personal best time of 15:10. “We still have work to do.”

Burbank’s next three scorers — Gabriel Ellman (10th, 15:08.38), Ethan Moskowitz (11th, 15:09.91) and Enrique Vizcaino (15th, 15:18.97) — propelled the Bulldogs within striking distance of league champion and top-ranked Arcadia, 27-47, which also had a surprise result when sophomore Phillip Rocha (14:02.12) nipped senior Estevan De La Rosa (12:02.47) at the finish line to win the Pacific League individual title in a new league record time.

Burbank’s joy was contrasted with a slight tinge of disappointment from the Falcons, who were led by senior Gabe Collison (third, 14:13.47).